


On Air

by Kitmistry



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Floor Manager Castiel, Fluff, M/M, Shameless Flirting on Live TV, Talk Show Host Dean Winchester, everyone ships it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:46:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23377852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitmistry/pseuds/Kitmistry
Summary: Tweets start showing up asking after the mysterious Cas, then it's messages to the show, then it's phone calls, then it's other shows commenting on all the articles and the buzz around the enigmatic floor manager Dean Winchester keeps talking to, until, finally, their producers (well, mostly Charlie) think it'll be hilarious to give the people what they want.Or when the whole nation ships it, maybe they're onto something.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 52
Kudos: 421





	On Air

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PieDarling](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PieDarling/gifts).



> For my partner in crime ❤️ 
> 
> Congratulations for getting accepted into uni, you rock! This is probably a little late, but shockingly in order for you to read it, I had to write it.
> 
> -Kit

It starts as a joke.

Dean's first job as the main host of a late-night live talk show is more demanding than everything he's done before, so maybe he's been relying on his new floor manager a bit more than usual. 

Enough that his viewers start noticing.

Tweets start showing up asking after the mysterious Cas, then it's messages to the show, then it's phone calls, then it's other _shows_ commenting on all the articles and the buzz around the enigmatic floor manager Dean Winchester keeps talking to, until, finally, their producers (well, mostly Charlie) think it'll be hilarious to give the people what they want.

Their show starts as usual. 

Dean and Bela go through the first two segments, and then Dean turns to gaze behind the camera, meeting nervous blue eyes. For the first time, when he says, "How much time do we have until our break, Cas?" it's rehearsed and somewhat stiff.

For the first time, a second camera zooms in straight on Cas as he freezes, then mouths a 'two minutes' at Dean, face held low, ears a vivid red. 

Dean feels kinda bad for the guy. 

After all, Dean chose this job, he chose to have his face plastered on every single TV turned on this late at night, but Cas, the weird, dorky little guy, has spent his entire life behind cameras. 

In a moment of utter stupidity, fueled by his desire to make this a bit better for Cas—and maybe by Dean's tiny crush—he holds Cas' gaze and winks.

"Thank you," he says.

Cas' eyes soften, and his muscles relax. "You're welcome."

It's all caught on camera. 

In a matter of days they've gone viral, and a screenshot of Cas and his wild dark hair flattened by his gigantic headphones is playing everywhere.

The viewers love it.

The crew can't stop talking about it. 

The producers' eyes turn into dollar signs.

Just like that, it's settled: Cas and Dean's dance around each other becomes the new unofficial segment of the talk show.

It's a bit awkward at first, mostly because Cas is awkward and stiff, but Dean plays up his naturally flirty personality, makes good-natured jabs and innuendos that drive the viewers crazy, and in a matter of weeks, Cas starts opening up. 

He becomes more relaxed in front of the cameras, starts improvising beyond the parts the screenwriters had provided for them beforehand, and gives Dean the opportunity to use his charm to the fullest.

"I have to wait?" Dean pouts, ignoring Bela who rolls her eyes next to him. "But I wanna do it now."

Cas shakes a finger at Dean, a smirk playing at his lips. He holds Dean's gaze for far longer than it's normal, and Dean never looks away. 

He can already see from the corner of his eye two cameras focusing on them, and he imagines the director is having the time of her life going from one's face to the other and back again, a cheesy, slow zoom-in underlying the way they seem to get lost in each other.

The fact that Dean maybe really gets lost in those baby blues is irrelevant.

"How about later then?" Dean asks, purposefully dropping his voice to make it sultry. He trails a finger over the desk, drawing increasingly larger circles."Can we do it later?"

The edge of Cas' lips trembles with amusement. "Right after the break," he says. "I promise."

"You sure like to make me wait, Cas," Dean says, and _oooohs_ and _aaaahs,_ explode all around them from the crew and their two guests. "But I'll get you one day. I promise you that."

"Are you done flirting?" Bela asks, raising a perfectly drawn eyebrow. 

"No, not really, but we're out of time." Dean turns to the cameras, wearing his most boyish grin. "Don't change the channel, because we're doing musical covers with our lovely guests, right after this break."

It's an undeniable success. Fanmade videos start circulating twitter, facebook and tumblr. There's article after article, memes, satirical edits where they photoshop Cas' head over Rose in Titanic and Dean's over Jack. Their ratings are through the roof. There are even fanpages dedicated to Cas, the hottest floor manager of the small screen.

Some of their guests boldly proclaim their interest in Cas, and Dean plays at being jealous, ignoring the way his stomach tightens just at the thought that some of them may actually mean it. Why wouldn't they? Cas is objectively gorgeous. He has objectively pretty eyes, and objectively nice lips, and objectively really thick, strong forearms.

Not that Dean has noticed.

He's just being objective.

If he sometimes gets stuck at the way Cas' fingers look wrapped around the microphone he's holding and imagines what those fingers would look like wrapped around _something_ _else_ , then no one has to know.

Yeah, Dean's got everything under control.

Every time he blows a kiss in Cas' direction, it's for the show. 

Every time he flirts, winks, jokes or gazes at Cas, it's for the show.

Probably.

Because control is quickly slipping through Dean's fingers, like their game slips into their behind-the-scenes life. 

It's like the staring never stops now. 

Cas is _everywhere_ and Dean is hyper aware of every time Cas invades his personal space to show him something on his tablet. 

Or check with him for the list of the upcoming guests. 

Or smooth a hand down Dean's chest to make sure his jacket is sitting just right. 

Or slip a finger through the waist of Dean's pants to fix his sound box. 

Cas will bring Dean his coffee sometimes, and Dean will forget himself and wink at him instead of saying thank you, and Cas will flush that beautiful shade of pink that makes Dean's stomach drop through his chair.

Cas will sometimes answer one of Dean's flirty one-liners with an innuendo of his own, and Dean will have to thank any god listening that the makeup table he's sitting at is covering his crotch.

He's vaguely aware that there's a bet among the crew for when one of them will make the first move. Just like he's vaguely aware that there is fanfiction being written about them, apparently. That part he's not so sure about, because the moment Charlie brought it up, Dean fled his dressing room. He has enough trouble not stumbling over his words whenever Cas is around without the mental image of whatever those fanfictions are about.

The worst part is, he's pretty sure Cas probably (maybe, why not, hopefully Dean is not projecting) feels the same way about him. But how is Dean supposed to make a move with a whole nation breathing down his neck?

The one thing he's sure about is that he's not going to do it on air. 

Ask Cas out on a real date that is. Because he's alluded to taking Cas out for dinner and _more_ plenty of times as part of their segment, so if he's going to do it for real, then he's going to make sure that it's in private.

With that settled, he starts working on a plan. Because he can't just outright say it. No that would… that would be… no, Dean just can't do that.

So he settles for his second best option.

Dean knows Cas is the first to arrive at the studio and the last to leave every day. So he does something nice for the guy. He starts leaving coffee for him.

_Cas, thank you for all your hard work,_ his note says the first day—Dean panicked when he tried to sign his name, so he didn't. 

The rest of the notes aren’t signed, either. And they get more and more like compliments with every passing day.

_I liked your shirt yesterday._

Cas starts squinting around him after that, and Dean ducks out of view, heart beating wildly in his chest.

_Your joke about cats was very funny!_

_You should wear grey more often._

_I want to run my fingers through your hair._

_I really like your eyes._

After the note about his eyes, Dean avoids meeting Cas' gaze for the rest of the day, though he can feel it heavy on him during the whole show. He tries to appear coy in front of the cameras, and jokes with his guest that he's playing hard to get these days to spice things up, but deep down he knows this has dragged on for longer than he'd planned.

He should have confessed to Cas by now.

Except…

Except he's scared. What if he's reading this wrong? What if Cas just gets really into his role?

So Dean shows up at the studio, a cup of coffee with Cas' name on it in his hand again. He still hasn't thought what he's going to write on the note yet, but he'll think of something. He still has half an hour before Cas shows up and—

Dean almost stumbles and falls on his face.

Cas is already there! He is leaning against Dean's desk on the set, all long, confident lines, hands crossed over his chest.

"Hey," Dean says like the idiot he is. "You're early today."

"I'm always early," Cas points out, eyes sparkling with interest. They're glued on the cup Dean's clutching hard enough to crash. "What are _you_ doing here so early?"

"I—uh—make up?" Dean says, mind going blank.

Cas smirks.

Dean feels his whole face heat up.

Cas pushes off the desk and strides through the equipment towards Dean.

Dean holds up the coffee cup against his chest like it's a shield.

Cas stares at it. His smirk becomes more pronounced. He stops only a breath of air away from Dean. 

"Is that for me?"

The air between them is practically vibrating with how charged it is. Dean's surprised sparks haven't started flying around.

"Thank you," Cas continues without waiting for an answer, voice low and guttural and zapping through Dean like electricity.

Dean inhales sharply through his nose. He's pretty sure he looks like he just had a stroke.

"You're welcome," he manages to say. 

"Since we have two hours before everyone else shows up, I could maybe return the favor?" Cas asks. "There's a really good coffee shop only a five minute drive from here."

Dean blinks. Something heavy and tight stuck under his lungs comes loose. "You want… to buy me coffee."

"Of course. By the way—" Blue eyes flicker up to pin Dean on the spot, "—I like your eyes, too. But you could have saved us both the trouble and written your phone number on the cup."

Dean's smiling so hard his cheeks start to hurt. "You already have my number," he points out.

Cas cocks his head to the side as if to say 'true enough'. Then he smiles up at Dean from under his lashes. "So… coffee?"

"I'd love to."

It takes them two months to come clean to their crew. There's a lot of cheering when they do, followed by grumpy shakes of heads when some realize they lost their bets. 

Bela, once again, rolls her eyes. "Like I haven't been smelling his body wash all over you for the past few weeks."

Dean turns red to his hair roots. But even Bela can't spoil his good mood. He's already talked to the producers about toning down his time spent making heart eyes at Cas until it's completely left out from the show. 

This thing, he and Cas, is new and awesome and so so amazing, and he thinks he wants to keep it all to himself.

If the viewers ship it as hard as they say they do, they'll understand.

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> A huge thank you to [ KellyDean ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kellydean) for being my beta. To see what else I'm working on, you can find me on [ tumblr ](https://kitmistry.tumblr.com/)!


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